Carrying the Team
by Laura of Maychoria
Summary: Everyone needs a piggyback ride sometimes. Hunk is (almost) always happy to provide.


**Note:** Kind of but not really a sequel to Carry That Weight. They're in the same universe, but both stand alone.

This idea was SUPPOSED to stay under 2k words for a thing, but it did NOT. You can probably tell about halfway through when I gave up on being concise and just let my writer brain do what it wanted.

* * *

As with many things in Hunk's life, it started with Lance.

Back at Galaxy Garrison, when they were first getting to know each other, Lance had been a little standoffish at first. Hunk wasn't. He rarely was, even with strangers. He greeted his new roommate with a big hug straight away, was free with shoulder clasps and back pats, leaned over Lance when he was sitting at his desk to see what he was doing (and touch his stuff), and generally did not show regard for personal space. If Lance had ever shown discomfort with any of it, he would have stopped immediately, but Lance never did.

Instead, Lance seemed grateful. He started touching Hunk in return, leaning on him in the hall, squeezing back fiercely when Hunk gave him a hug, playing drums on his arm with pencils when they were stuck together in a boring lecture. After he met Lance's huge and very affectionate family, Hunk understood why. Lance had been holding off at first in an attempt to be polite and fit in at military school, but at heart he was just as touchy-feely as Hunk. Maybe more so.

So it wasn't a huge surprise when one day Hunk heard his name being yelled from down the hall in a loud and exuberant tone. "HUUUNNKK!" He turned to see Lance racing down the carpet to meet him, arms spread and joy beaming from his face. Hunk chuckled deep in his chest and held out his own arms to meet Lance in a gigantic, spinny hug.

But Lance shook his head, still grinning as he ran. "No, no, turn around! Get ready!"

Hunk was confused, but he did as requested. He braced himself, listening to Lance's footsteps thundering up behind. Then he grunted when Lance's weight landed on his back as he leapt up on him, legs clamping around Hunk's waist, fists raised above his head with a joyful, "Whoo hoo!"

Hunk reached back for him instinctively, wrapped his hands around Lance's thighs to hold him up, then started walking. Lance perched on his back, crowing triumphantly. He had done really well in a class or something, Hunk couldn't remember the cause now, but he remembered how fun it had been, how happy Lance had sounded and how easy it had been to carry him and support him in his glee.

After that, it became a tradition. Hunk would hear Lance's voice yelling his name behind him, followed by pounding footsteps, and he would brace for his best friend to leap on his back. Sometimes it was for happy reasons, like the first time, and other times Lance would be sad or homesick and would cling to Hunk like a koala, hiding his face on his shoulder so he wouldn't have to look at anyone as Hunk carried him. Lance was always pretty easy to figure out, and Hunk got good at knowing what he needed and how to provide it.

Nothing changed when they went to space, except that there was a bit of a pause as they both adjusted to their new lives. Hunk didn't know if Lance would be embarrassed by such displays now that they had these very adult, very serious roles as defenders of the universe, so he didn't mind the lack of piggyback rides. They still touched and hugged and leaned on each other as much as always, and Hunk was content with that.

But one day, yes. There it was. "Hunk!" Running footsteps. It was morning, before food goo even, and Hunk was still blinking sleep out of his eyes. He turned his back to Lance's approach and braced himself without thinking, and _oof,_ there he was, clinging tight. Lance buried his face against the top of Hunk's shoulder, and Hunk instantly felt the fabric begin to dampen. Lance's fingers were clenched around his front, and his entire body was tense, shaking.

Not a happy jump. At all. Hunk frowned and started walking, all sleep instantly banished. "You okay, dude?" he asked, soft.

Lance shook his head, rubbing his face against Hunk's shoulder.

"Nightmare?"

A trembling nod.

"About home?"

A stronger nod.

Hunk sighed and walked. Breakfast was forgotten. Eventually Lance opened up and told him everything, but by the time they had both gained their equilibrium, they were late to training. Hunk expected to be scolded, and he was fully prepared to take the entirety of the blame and shield Lance from all of it. But they were met by sympathetic looks from Shiro and Coran, a touch of resigned confusion from Keith and Allura, and a knowing gaze from Pidge. Ah, Pidge must have seen them and explained it to the others. Lance tried to laugh it off and act like nothing had happened, but everyone could see how red-rimmed his eyes were. Allura went easier on them in training that day than she ever had before. (And probably ever would again.)

The piggyback rides were back, and Hunk was happy. He hoped they never stopped again. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed them until they were gone. Lance started jumping on him again in happy moments after victories, in lonely moments when he wanted physical connection. Not as much as he had at school, but often enough to remind Hunk of how much he enjoyed it.

Next, of course, was Pidge. It was her own fault for being such a workaholic nerd. After she tipped over in training one day and almost got fried by a bot before Keith got there and deflected the blow, Hunk started seeking her out every night to make sure she went to bed. He kept finding her tucked away in more and more obscure corners of the ship, tapping on her laptop or crawling in the vents or hooked into a control panel, often with the mice on her shoulders watching her with curiosity or a robot or two hanging out with her.

The first time, she just blinked at him blankly when he crouched down next to her, then reached out and took the laptop from her hands. "Hunk, I told you not to touch my stuff." Her voice was a little blurry and slurred, her reaction times too slow. She had been getting too little sleep for too many nights in a row, and Hunk took full advantage.

"I know," Hunk said cheerfully, studying what she'd been doing. He saved her project, taking care to follow her filing conventions, then turned off the laptop and handed it to the mice to carry off. They were surprisingly strong, and they knew what Hunk wanted. They scampered away with the laptop carried above their heads quicker than Pidge could react.

"Hey...!" She tried to snatch at them, then started to slide down the wall. Hunk snorted and held her up with one big hand on her side.

"You're tipping over again, dude. What do you say you get some shut-eye now?"

Pidge blinked at him. Hunk smiled, broad and bright, then turned his back to her and held his arms behind himself, wiggling his fingers. "Hop on, little buddy. Time to take the Hunk-train to sleepytown."

"You're ridiculous," Pidge muttered, but she was too tired to protest. She climbed up on Hunk's back and clung there like a monkey. He rolled easily to his feet and carried her off to her bedroom.

Pidge was less tired the next night, and therefore very snarly and unhappy about being interrupted. But the mice took her laptop again, and Hunk offered a piggyback ride, and her objections died on her lips. If he had known it would be this easy, he would have done this long ago.

After that, she still wasn't quite as quick and enthusiastic as Lance to ride on Hunk, but she was getting there. A few times, after a long mission or training session when they were both tired, she and Lance had to fight over who got the privilege. The first time it happened, Hunk missed the fight, only becoming aware on the tail end when they'd evidently battled it out with rock paper scissors and Pidge emerged smugly triumphant while Lance scowled. The second time, they both started climbing up on him once, then stopped with a sharp "Hey!" when they realized what they were doing. They were both so exhausted that they hadn't realized. That time, Hunk made them take turns.

Keith was trickier. He seemed to feel like he had to earn a piggyback ride, couldn't just take it because Hunk was offering or because he wanted one. Hunk and Lance had to coerce him into it, at least the first few times.

At the end of a long day fighting Galra with resistance fighters on a planet facing invasion, Keith was dragging. He had played cover for Hunk and Lance the entire day, running around cutting down enemies with his sword so they could concentrate on long-range combat. The three of them were finally walking back to the central command hub to debrief after the Galra pulled back at sunset, and Keith was lagging behind, looking a little wobbly on his feet. Hunk and Lance gave each other concerned looks. Hunk raised his eyebrows. Lance nodded.

The went back to Keith, flying casual. "Hey, buddy, you doing okay?" Lance asked with faux indifference. "Long day, huh?"

Keith raised his head a little more and tried to focus on him. "Uh, yeah. And tomorrow we do it again."

Lance nodded and gently sidled his way around so he stood at Keith's back. Then, in one smooth, concerted move, Hunk turned away from Keith and crouched down a bit, arms reaching behind him, and Lance shoved Keith straight into his back. Keith let out a surprised grunt, and Hunk caught his knees, pulled them forward, and straightened up. Lance kept a hand on Keith's back so he wouldn't overbalance and fall off, and there they were. Piggyback ride was a go.

"What..." Keith was too tired, even then, to really catch on to what was happening. "I don't... You guys?"

"Just relax, buddy," Hunk said, leaning forward to accomodate Keith's weight. "We've got it from here."

"But...there might be...enemies..."

"We can handle it," Lance said, stepping over to walk at Hunk's side, a hand still resting on Keith's back to make sure he didn't try to escape. "Take a chill pill, my man. Everything's cool."

"But..."

Lance looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Don't you trust us? I thought we had a bonding moment and everything."

"Oh." Keith's voice was soft, confused. Then his arms slid around Hunk's shoulders, his face nestled in the back of Hunk's neck, and he went limp. Lance gave Hunk a thumb's up, and Hunk smiled, soft and wide.

Afterward, Keith still wouldn't go for it at the first offer. But when he was tired or out of it or just a little vulnerable, Lance and Hunk found it easier and easier to talk him into accepting a ride. He was learning to trust them and lean on them more and more. Before long he might start climbing up on Hunk whenever he felt like it, like Lance and Pidge. Hunk looked forward to it.

Shiro was a much harder nut to crack. At first Hunk didn't want to offend him by even offering, since he knew how hard Shiro worked to keep up his role as leader, even though he wasn't that much older than the rest of them. But as they got to know each other, Hunk realized that Shiro was as much a kid as everyone else. He just hid it better, bitter experience having given him a veneer of world-weariness. But he got just as tired, just as lonely, just as overworked as the rest of them. He needed connection, too.

Still, when Hunk got up the courage to offer him a piggyback ride, Shiro shook his head. He smiled, though. "It's nice of you to offer, buddy, but I'm fine."

Hunk frowned. "No, you're not." It had been a hard battle, and Shiro had taken the brunt of it. Among other things, he had shielded Pidge when a blast knocked a hole in the wall they'd been standing next to and showered debris down on them. Even Shiro's armor looked scuffed and beat up, to say nothing of his face.

Shiro still shook his head, though, and Hunk's mama didn't raise a fool. He knew when to give up.

He offered a couple of other times, too, always to be refused. The one time Hunk actually did carry him, Shiro was unconscious, so it didn't count. He didn't even remember afterward, since he'd taken a bad hit to the head before he passed out. The healing pods had been working overtime that day.

Then they went to the planet with the beach. Shockingly, Pidge on Lance's shoulders ruled the chicken fights, no matter how hard Hunk and Keith tried to beat them. Pidge was small, but she was _mean,_ and Lance was slippery as an eel in water even while holding onto someone else. Keith finally got tired of losing and huffed back to the beach to help Allura build her sandcastle, so Hunk was left without a partner. He immediately turned to Shiro and gave him the puppy eyes.

Shiro had been happily dog-paddling through the tropical waves, close enough to be in earshot but far enough away to have a nice chunk of water to himself. When Hunk caught his eye, he stood up in the water and started waving his hands in front of himself. "Oh no, no, _no,_ Hunk, don't look at me like that, I can't..."

"Shiro." Hunk waded his way over to him and grabbed his shoulders, and Shiro shut up, staring at him with wide eyes. "Dude. Calm down. I'm not gonna make you. But please?"

He looked over his shoulder at Lance and Pidge, who were dancing through the water and yelling loudly at each other about how awesome they were. Then he looked back to Shiro and gave him another dose of the puppy eyes. "Pleeaase? They need to be taught a lesson. You really want to go back to the ship with the two of _them_ convinced that they rule the chicken fight? They'll be unlivable for weeks. As the leader, you gotta..."

Shiro blew out a breath and grabbed Hunk's shoulder in return. He smiled, but his eyes were pained. "As the leader, I should really stay out of this. You guys deserve to have fun with each other without a superior stuffing it up. I'll ruin the dynamic."

Hunk felt his eyes spark. "Oh. Is that why?"

Shiro let go and backed up, sensing that he had made mistake. "Why what?" he said nervously. "Why are you looking at me like that, Hunk, stop..." He continued to back away, and Hunk followed, dripping hands reaching out, a big grin spreading on his face.

"That's why you haven't wanted to take a piggyback ride from me. Because you think you'll ruin the _dynamic._ Because that's what we kids are doing, right, children playing amongst ourselves, and you can't get down on that level and play with us, because you're our _superior."_

"Hunk, no, that's not..." Shiro was sputtering. A big wave caught him in the mouth and he gasped. "That's not what I meant..."

"I think it is." Hunk was laughing now. Shiro's balance shifted as the wave sucked back and the current caught him, and Hunk pounced. He wrapped both arms around Shiro's chest, pinning his arms to his sides, and pulled him down under the surf. Shiro's shriek was entirely undignified, and Hunk enjoyed it far too much.

He let him up immediately, of course, and now Shiro was sputtering even harder, water dripping from his hair, arms held out from his body and back arched like a drenched cat. Hunk sat in the water and laughed at him. Shiro had kept his hair dry all day long so far, just paddling in the waves like a toddler, and now Hunk had ruined it.

"You're not so high and mighty, _Superior Officer,"_ Hunk teased, grinning hard.

Shiro looked honestly alarmed. "No, seriously, Hunk, that's not what I meant, it's not that I see myself as above you guys in any way at all, I just..."

Then he saw how Hunk was grinning at him, and the words slowly died. "Oh. You're not offended."

Hunk closed his lips, hiding his teeth, and shook his head. Still with a big smile. "Nope. I just get it now, that's all. You're a giant dork like the rest of us."

Shiro still looked confused, so Hunk stood up and faced him seriously again. "Look. You don't have to hold yourself separate just because you're the leader. You're not gonna ruin our fun if you join in. You'll make it _better,_ I promise. We want you to hang out with us and play games and be a big goofball. And we'll still follow you into battle afterward, if that's what you're worried about. Respect isn't gonna die just because you know your leader sucks at Monopoly or whatever. And every single one of us respects you to the edge of the universe and beyond. You earned that from us already."

Shiro's eyes softened. "No, I wasn't worried about that."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Hunk stepped back and spread his arms wide, encompassing the ocean, the beach, their teammates, Shiro and all. "Come join in the fun! We've all been waiting for you."

Shiro hesitated, sucking on his lip. But then his shoulders fell down, and he smiled. "Okay. Guess you're right. We can't let Lance and Pidge reign as chicken fight champions. The universe will not survive."

Hunk laughed, loud and happy. "Glad you're seeing things my way." He turned around and crouched down on one knee, looking over his shoulder at Shiro. "Ready to show 'em how it's done?"

Shiro nodded, but then a gleam lit in his eye. "Yeah, but first..."

Hunk's heart dropped. "Oh, no."

"REVENGE!" Shiro lunged on him, strong arms wrapping Hunk up like a Christmas present, and pulled him under the water. They rose up a moment later, laughing and sputtering, and Lance and Pidge yelled at them to hurry up, and finally, Shiro climbed aboard the Hunk-train where he belonged.

They won the chicken fight, but Lance and Pidge said it was unfair to overwhelm them with brute force and towering height like that, so then they had to switch it up. Lance got on Shiro's shoulders and Pidge got on Hunk's, which was a much more interesting fight.

It wasn't clear until the very end who would win, but Lance picked his moment and booped Pidge on the nose while she was off-balance. She had been in the middle of swinging for him again, but at the unexpected touch she squealed, covered her face with her hands, and toppled off Hunk's shoulders into the water. They were all delighted, but Shiro laughed louder and harder than anyone had ever heard him do it. Pidge came up out of the water screeching mad and ready to take on the world (and Lance) with her rage, but she stopped as soon as she heard that laughter, eyes going wide. They were all transfixed, even the folks on the beach.

Keith took that as his cue to come back, and even Allura got in on it. They kept switching partners just to see what would happen, and though Hunk was usually a base, Allura shifted into a larger, stronger form so that even he could take his turn trying to shove people into the water. The two of them were pretty lethal, if Hunk did say so himself.

Eventually Coran came out from guarding the monitors in the castle, leaving the mice to watch over things and alert Allura if necessary, and that gave them even more combinations to work with. None of them should have been surprised when Allura and Coran ended up owning them all. Experience and strength eventually won out, even in a chicken fight. Maybe especially in a chicken fight.

So that was the whole crew, and Hunk was pretty happy with his accomplishments. Shiro was still the rarest and probably always would be, but at least he accepted it when he was wounded. It would be even better if Hunk could finagle a reason for Allura and Coran to join in too, but this felt good, felt complete. Hunk was a leg, and it was great.

There were times, though, when he wasn't quite as enthusiastic. Most of the time he was pleased and content with his role providing support for the rest of the team. He was good at it, and he felt appreciated and wanted for who he was. But every once in a while...

It was the end of another long day, another bad battle, another mission that had almost gone wrong. The Galra had been waiting in ambush on a planet they had thought was all but deserted. They headed into the small base on foot after landing the green lion in stealth mode, just planning to smash and grab, get into the computers and grab any data they could download, then get out.

The Galra were waiting just off the main control room, a large area they had to pass through to get to the computers. Many, many more than anyone had expected. Shiro spotted them somehow, a glint of purple, a red glow of a robot's eye, and yelled out a warning just before the trap was sprung. It gave them just enough time to duck and cover, so they weren't instantly overwhelmed.

In the ensuing firefight, the paladins were forced to spread out to take on the enemy as effectively as possible. Hunk had never fired his cannon so many times, with seemingly such little effect. The drones just kept coming and coming and coming. And the paladins didn't realize how focused the trap was until it was almost too late.

The Galra had been working with a goal: separate them, herd them away from each other, and capture whoever they could. It was Lance who saw the pattern just before it was complete. "They're going after Pidge!" he yelled, almost incandescent with rage.

The others turned to see what he was looking at just in time to watch two non-drone Galra leap out of hiding and fall on Pidge. Hunk saw red. He was pretty sure he heard Keith screaming. Shiro, too, his voice barely recognizable. The next few minutes were a blur.

When it ended, the Galra were strewn on the floor, Shiro was crouched down clutching Pidge to his chest with desperate intensity, Keith was pacing the floor with his sword, and Lance was frozen there, standing, his gun out as his eyes flicked here and there and everywhere, watching for more enemies to come out of the woodwork. Hunk's ankle hurt. He had no idea how it had happened. He must have twisted it. He was panting, his body shaking. For the first time he could remember, his weapon felt heavy in his hands.

Too close. That was too close.

It took them a long time to calm down. Eventually they had to have Allura deploy some BLIP sensors to reassure them that the base was actually empty, every robot deactivated, every Galra body cooling. Pidge recovered faster than anyone else, though. Before long instead of Shiro comforting her, she was comforting him, repeatedly patting his shoulder and telling him that she was okay. Later she told Hunk that she hadn't been worried at all, not even when those two Galra grabbed her and started dragging her off, because she was dead certain that her teammates wouldn't let it happen.

The rest of them, though... Yeah. They hadn't been quite as certain. They all had to crowd around, touch her, make sure. She patted them all, small hands on shoulders and chests and arms and faces. Eventually, Hunk's shaking began to ease off, but he felt drained and exhausted, worn to a sliver by the terror of that moment and the following fight.

After everything, it was Pidge who led the way out, trotting along cheerful as could be, chatting about the data they had pulled from the base computers. She was hopeful that it might have something in there that would be useful for finding her family, since the Galra had obviously not intended for them to succeed in getting it. Hunk trailed behind her, trying to listen, but he felt dull and listless, his gait dragging.

His ankle...hurt. He would probably have to pop into a cryo pod for a while when they got back to the castle, though he didn't like them, always was vaguely nervous of getting stuck inside. Claustrophobia was not one of his anxieties, thankfully, or being forced to live in a spaceship would be nigh unbearable, but sometimes he thought he might have a touch of it.

Every time he put his foot down, his ankle sang in protest. He could walk on it, but he didn't want to. Normally after such a harsh and traumatic experience, he would expect Lance or Pidge or even Keith to be climbing on his back, finding solace in Hunk's strength and steadiness. But today, Hunk wished for once that someone could carry him instead.

He sighed, knowing it was a useless thought. He had long ago come to terms with his size and weight, but he also had no illusions about what it meant for him and his life. He was never going to be cute and small and dainty. He was always going to have to go to specialty stores to find clothes that fit, and he was always going to have to pay a little extra for things most people took for granted, like airplane tickets. And no one was ever going to be able carry him without, like, one of those bariatric stretchers and probably six well-muscled dudes. It was just the laws of physics.

Then he heard pounding footsteps behind him, a cry of his name. Hunk halted in the hallway, blinking, and braced himself. Who was it? He thought he'd heard more than one voice. He hoped whoever it was wouldn't hit too hard when they jumped on him, or he might actually topple over.

But there they were, and it wasn't one person. It was Shiro and Keith, coming up beside him in a rush. Before he quite knew what was happening, Hunk wasn't being jumped on. He was being lifted up.

Hunk blinked, struggling to figure out what had happened as he felt himself falling back into the cradle of their arms. Another hand caught on his back, warm through his black underarmor. Lance, keeping him upright. Shiro and Keith had seen that he was hurting, and instead of offering to carry him like _normal_ people, they had just woven their arms between them and run up behind him to scoop him up.

Hunk let out a surprised squeak, hands flailing out to the sides and finding a grip on Shiro's upper arm and Keith's shoulder. "You guys," he gasped out. "What the...what the quiznak..."

"Sorry to startle you," Shiro said, sounding not at all sorry. Now that he and Keith had Hunk between them, they had slowed to a walk. "We noticed you were limping. Twisted your ankle?"

"Uh, yeah," Hunk said, because there was absolutely no point in lying. "But I can walk on it, it's fine, you don't have to carry me. I know I'm too heavy. You don't have to force it, your arms must be sore already..."

"Hunk," Lance said behind him, warm and bright and utterly sincere. "Shut up."

Hunk clamped his mouth shut, his breath caught in his throat. Pidge was waiting ahead for them, looking back with a small smile of her own. Why were they all so cheerful about this?

Shiro shook his head and smiled at him. If he'd had a hand free, Hunk just knew he'd be ruffling his hair. "Relax and let us carry you for once, big man. Sure, you could walk on that ankle, but you don't have to. We got it."

Hunk refrained from squirming in discomfort, afraid that he would break their hold and force them to drop him on the floor. "Shouldn't someone be carrying Pidge instead? She's the one who had the scary experience this time."

"I'm fine," Pidge contradicted him. She was walking alongside them now, trotting happily back to her lion. "Besides, you're the MVP of this fight."

Hunk blinked. "I am?"

"Yeah." Lance's hand pressed his back a little harder. "You were amazing with that cannon, dude. You looked like a total freaking hero, standing there with that determined look in your eye, just shooting and shooting. We never would have won this without you."

"Ah." He would have to take Lance's word for it. Hunk couldn't remember the fight very well, except for being overwhelmed with a kind of haze of anxiety and rage and _NO NO NO THIS CANNOT BE ALLOWED._ He'd never thought of himself as a berserker type, but maybe he was. Just had to find the right button.

"Stop worrying," Keith said, blunt and forthright as always. "We want to do this. Just let us."

"Oh."

And Hunk said nothing else. But his heart was warm, and he smiled all the way back to the lion. The fear and pain of that battle was erased, buried under all the good feelings that being with his team brought to him.

Yes, Hunk genuinely enjoyed being a leg. He liked supporting others, feeding them, hugging them, making sure they were whole and well and happy with their lives. He liked carrying the team. But every once in a while, it was nice to be carried, instead.

With Lance and Shiro and Keith and Pidge all with him, he wasn't even scared of going into the cryo pod. Not even a little bit. He knew they would all be waiting for him when he got out.

And they were.


End file.
